Chapter 7: Choice and Consequence
Linley walked through the ever-changing ancient castle, his heart filled with anxiety: “This damned place keeps shifting constantly; there’s simply no way to find an exit. And on top of that, there are enemies hiding in this castle, launching sneak attacks and assassinations!” Linley clearly remembered the corpse of a demon he had seen earlier.
Seeing that corpse, Linley understood that this castle was not merely meant to trap people.
Someone was ambushing and assassinating!
In truth, Linley should have realized this long ago. But he hadn’t dared to think about it: “Ambushes? Assassinations? Bebe and I can manage a bit better. I have a soul defense divine artifact, and Bebe has the precious treasure Lord Beirut bestowed upon him. We have a decent chance of surviving. But Delia… Sigh. I shouldn’t have been so impatient back then. I should have waited until Delia reached the Highgod level before setting out.” Linley was filled with regret.
“If Delia were to be assassinated by someone…”
Just thinking about it made Linley’s heart clench with anxiety.
In reality, Delia was training in the laws of the wind element and had already comprehended six types of profound mysteries. She also possessed the ‘Death God Puppet.’ Although her ability to survive wasn’t as strong as Linley’s or Bebe’s, she still had some measure of assurance.
But Linley himself couldn’t stop worrying.
“To be able to create such a bizarre castle, this enemy is no ordinary person. No matter what, Delia hasn’t reached the Highgod level yet.” Linley moved cautiously and swiftly through the castle, hoping to run into Delia inside.
But suddenly—
“Huh?”
As Linley passed a fork in the corridor, he caught a glimpse of a figure floating in midair in the distance.
“That black-horned old man?” Linley recognized him at a glance. The black-horned elder also noticed Linley and looked over.
Just then, a breeze gathered in the air, directly forming an old man in a green robe. A faint smile hung on the green-robed elder’s face. He glanced at Linley but paid him no mind: “A mere Demigod dares to come here?”
To the green-robed elder, he could kill a Demigod in an instant. With his status, he couldn’t be bothered.
“You are?” The black-horned elder stared at the suddenly appearing green-robed elder, his expression shifting drastically.
The green-robed elder looked coldly at the black-horned elder before him: “You’ve got some nerve. You and your brother made off with the Boyce family’s vast wealth, and after all these years, the two of you actually dared to come back. What, are you trying to return to the Jasper Continent?”
The black-horned elder’s face changed, but then he laughed freely: “Back then, my brother and I fled the Jasper Continent, believing no one had discovered us. This time, out of caution, we hired so many demons. I never expected you to still show up!”
The green-robed elder let out a disdainful snort.
“You want the Boyce family’s wealth? Hahaha…”
The black-horned elder suddenly threw his head back and laughed loudly, then fixed his gaze on the green-robed elder. “Dream on! My brother and I dared to return this time because we were fully prepared. Even if you kill us both, you’ll never get the Boyce family’s wealth! You, you’ll never get it!”
The green-robed elder’s face instantly darkened.
He had followed his disciple, Inigo, from the Jasper Continent, crossed the Misty Sea of Stars, and come to the Violet Continent—all for the Boyce family’s wealth!
“Hmph. I’ll find out after I kill you.” The green-robed elder waved his hand, and a sword as thin as a silver thread appeared in his grasp. It was also a soft sword, but even finer and lighter than Linley’s ‘Violet Blood Soft Sword.’
“Prepare to die.” The green-robed elder, mindful of his status, announced his intention before striking.
The black-horned elder, upon seeing this ‘Wind Castle,’ already understood his opponent’s level of power.
Though he too was a Highgod, the gap between him and the man before him was far too great.
“You want to kill me? I’ll make you pay a price too.” Resigned to death, the black-horned elder roared as a black heavy sword appeared in his hand. Instantly, the space around the black heavy sword twisted, and black rays of light radiated outward.
Seeing these two Highgods about to fight, Linley felt a jolt of alarm: “I need to get out of here fast. If I get caught up in this, I’m finished!” Without hesitation, Linley immediately began darting in the opposite direction down the fork.
But just as he fled—
“Boom!”
The two Highgods clashed once. The black-horned elder’s entire body was sent flying backward, hurtling straight toward the direction Linley had fled.
“Huh?” Linley was stunned, looking up at the body tumbling down.
But the black-horned elder flipped over and immediately straightened up. One of his divine clones had already been killed.
“Am I about to die?” The black-horned elder fully grasped the vast difference between them. He had already lost one divine clone, leaving only this one. “Master, this old servant has not failed your trust. But from now on… I can no longer serve the young master.”
“Boom!”
The black-horned elder’s long blade, as if splitting heaven and earth, transformed into a black blade shadow. Space completely twisted, leaving only that hazy blade shadow.
“Hahaha! I killed one divine clone. How many more do you have?” The green-robed elder’s arrogant laughter rang out. Then Linley only saw a beautiful silver thread flicker—just a few graceful flashes of silver light. Several extremely fine cracks appeared in the space itself.
Linley was shocked.
“Cracks? Space cracks appearing in the Infernal Realm?” Linley found it hard to believe.
“Pfft!”
The black-horned elder blocked only one silver flash. The remaining flashes of silver light sliced through his body. His body was cut into several segments, falling from midair. Especially his left hand, which wore the space ring, tumbled downward.
At that moment—
“A space ring?” Linley’s mind stirred. He could directly collect that space ring.
“Can I take it?”
The black-horned elder’s space ring definitely contained astonishing wealth. Linley was certain of that. As one of the employers, capable of hiring Six Star demons and other experts, the black-horned elder’s possessions would be incredibly vast. But could he take it?
Linley glanced at the green-robed elder in the distance and immediately fled without hesitation.
“Take it and you’ll never live to spend it.”
Linley sped away, instantly reaching several kilometers away and vanishing from the green-robed elder’s sight. But every part of this castle was under the green-robed elder’s control, so he naturally knew Linley’s location. The green-robed elder sneered: “That Demigod isn’t completely blinded by greed.”
If Linley had tried to snatch the space ring, even if the green-robed elder disdained killing him, he would have personally intervened. At that point, Linley would have had no chance of survival.
“How much is in here?” The green-robed elder flew down, immediately retrieved the space ring, and dripped blood onto it to claim ownership.
The green-robed elder’s face changed drastically: “Huh? Only thirty billion inkstones? How is that possible? Just this little?” He found it hard to believe. “Impossible. The Boyce family existed for eons. Even a small portion would be more than this.”
Thirty billion inkstones might seem like a fortune to Linley or an ordinary Highgod.
But to a powerhouse like the green-robed elder, it was merely a small sum. And compared to the Boyce family’s wealth, thirty billion inkstones was just a drop in the bucket! Consider that a single hotel in a city could be worth hundreds of billions.
The Boyce family’s assets were worth far more than a single hotel.
“No. There’s still that white-horned old man.” The green-robed elder’s gaze turned icy. “The wealth must be on him.” But when he sensed the white-horned elder’s location, his expression shifted dramatically. “Damn… that demon is getting close to the white-horned old man.”
Reihomons walked through the castle with a cold expression, his longsword in hand, as if strolling through his own backyard. Even when faced with a yellow sand wall ahead, Reihomons continued in a straight line, completely ignoring it.
A flash of the sword!
“Pfft!”
The yellow sand wall was directly sliced open. Reihomons’s form moved like a phantom, passing through the gap. The yellow sand wall immediately restored itself.
“Hmph!” Reihomons coldly turned his head to look to the side.
“Whoosh!” Like a bolt of lightning striking the yellow sand wall in the distance, blood seeped out from the wall. A corpse toppled out from it. The corpse’s eyes still held shock, as if unable to believe that Reihomons had detected him.
Reihomons continued forward.
No one could block his path!
“I know you can hear me,” Reihomons said as he walked. “Come out. Do you think I can’t break this spatial castle of yours?”
“Pfft!”
Another sword strike cleaved through the obstacle ahead. Reihomons’s form solidified, and he was on the other side of the wall.
“Ah, Mr. Reihomons!” The white-horned elder was overjoyed to see Reihomons. A rare faint smile appeared on Reihomons’s face.
“Too slow.” The green-robed elder concealed himself in a room just a few hundred meters from the white-horned elder. “His name is Reihomons? His attack power is terrifying. Even a casual strike has such power. If he really unleashes his full strength…”
The green-robed elder was experienced and could tell that Reihomons hadn’t used his ultimate technique.
Generally, these top-tier powerhouses had trump cards. Such techniques usually consumed a great deal of mental energy and divine power. So, unless it was a life-or-death moment, they preferred not to use them.
“This damned bastard.” The green-robed elder made a decision on the spot. “Now, I’ll have to gather a few Highgods to gang up on that white-horned old man. I’ll personally hold off that Reihomons for a while.”
The green-robed elder knew that no other Highgod could hold off Reihomons.
Killing the white-horned elder only required a few Highgods to launch a coordinated sneak attack.
As the slaughter continued in this desert castle, the number of Highgods steadily decreased.
Salomon stood coldly in midair. “I hope Nis is safe.” He was constantly worried.
“Swoosh!”
Suddenly, two figures emerged from the wall beside him, shooting straight at Salomon. The violent energy made space tremble.
“Hmph!” Salomon flipped his hand, and several streaks of black light burst forth. The two figures screamed. One fell to the ground and didn’t move again, while the other dove into the yellow sand wall and vanished.
“Trying to kill me?” Salomon sneered.
The battle raged on, and Highgod demons fell one after another.
“Aside from that most terrifying demon, there are four Highgod demons who are hard to deal with,” Inigo said, frowning as he listened to his subordinates’ reports. He didn’t know that these four particularly troublesome Highgod demons were the Edwards brothers and Salomon!
Star ratings didn’t fully reflect strength.
For example, a powerful demon might only be a One Star demon after his first assessment, but that didn’t mean his true strength was limited to One Star.
Salomon was the same. On the surface, he was only a Four Star demon, but what was his real strength? Not all demons cared about star ratings.
“No need to target the Highgod demons anymore. It’s not worth the cost,” Inigo ordered calmly. His goal was only those two old men, not to kill every Highgod demon. “You don’t need to work together now. Attack freely. Take out the Demigod demons as well.”
Having Highgods kill Demigod demons naturally required no cooperation.
“Yes, young master!”
The Highgods dove into the yellow sand and vanished.
With this order, every Demigod demon in the castle was now in danger—including Linley, Bebe, Delia, Nis…
Crisis had arrived!
Linley walked cautiously on the yellow sand. His hands, feet, neck, head—every part of his body—was covered by a thin yellow film, making him look like a metallic warrior. Linley had covered his entire body with the ‘Pulsating Armor.’
“Swoosh!” A violent sword shadow suddenly exploded from Linley’s side.
Linley felt as if he had been caught in a raging storm, like a small boat on the verge of being swallowed at any moment.